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BBC chief Mark Thompson admits 'Left-wing bias'

The BBC was guilty of a "massive bias to the Left" in the past, director general Mark Thompson has said.

He said staff were "quite mystified" by the rise of Margaret Thatcher but that there was "less overt tribalism" among its journalists.

Conservative commentators have long criticised the BBC for being a hotbed of Left-wingers and an internal report from 2007 said it had to make greater efforts to avoid liberal bias.

Mr Thompson told the New Statesman: "In the BBC I joined 30 years ago, there was, in much of current affairs, in terms of people's personal politics, which were quite vocal, a massive bias to the left.

"The organisation did struggle then with impartiality. And journalistically, staff were quite mystified by the early years of Thatcher.

"Now it is a completely different generation. There is much less overt tribalism among the young journalists who work for the BBC."

The 2007 report criticised the BBC for coming late to several important stories including Euroscepticism and immigration which it described as "'off limits' in terms of a liberal-minded comfort zone".

Mr Thompson described relations between the BBC and the Labour government in its last few years as "quite tetchy" and said he was optimistic of a good settlement in forthcoming licence fee discussions with the coalition.

He told the magazine: "What we want is an effective and businesslike relationship with government - it's not about personal relations."